Reply #1: George Grau bailed out of a B-17.

[trof]

George is still a pretty big guy, about 6' 2". He's a bit past ruggedly handsome, but you can tell that he was probably a heart breaker in his 20s. He has very large hands, the knuckles larger now, with arthritis.

He managed to keep his B-17 straight and more-or-less level, after 1/4 of the left wing had been shot off, until the rest of the crew had bailed.

The last man out, he went out through the bomb bay.
Knew he would whack his head on the doors and did.
Recovered consciousness at about 150 feet, barely in time to pull his parachute D-ring and deploy the chute just before he hung up in a tree.

Knew he was close to the battle line in Germany. When he finally made contact with a U.S. unit he learned he was barely 1/2 mile INSIDE our lines.
"A half mile the other way and I would either be dead, or I would have spent a year or more in a German POW camp. And maybe still dead."

George was back flying missions 2 weeks later.